1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bracket board for supporting brackets for shelves and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to present marketable products to the buying public various attempts have been made to display merchandise in a pleasing and aesthetic manner. One of the more popular methods of displaying goods for sale is that of providing a board including a plurality of holes defined by the board for the reception therein of pegs from which merchandise is suspended. Such boards are manufactured under the registered trademark PEGBOARD. The PEGBOARD cooperates with various pegs or display brackets which are inserted into the PEGBOARD so that merchandise can be hung from these pegs or display brackets. Various modifications to this basic concept have been proposed including foraminous panels having adjacent holes which receive threaded stems of display pegs.
PEGBOARD display devices, although presenting merchandise in a more pleasing manner than that of counter top displays, suffered from drawbacks such as the problem of securely fastening the stem within the corresponding PEGBOARD holes. Relatively complex arrangements were proposed for securing the display pegs within the PEGBOARD holes including devices in which wing nuts were provided to cooperate with the stem of the display bracket. However, these modifications often necessitated access to the back of the PEGBOARD if the display brackets were to be relocated relative to the PEGBOARD.
A more recent proposal for displaying merchandise in an aesthetic manner includes a base having a plurality of horizontal facing panels, each facing panel being separated from the adjacent facing panel by a horizontal groove. Each groove has a recess for receiving a suitably shaped tab of a bracket which may be hooked through the groove and recess to support the bracket relative to the bracket board. While this more recent proposal has overcome the problem of moving brackets relative to the bracket board without having to access the back of the bracket board, certain disadvantages have been experienced in this particular type of display bracket board. Unfortunately, this prior art system had only limited strength and could not support brackets required to hold heavy objects. To overcome this limited strength, some in the prior art have utilized metallic inverted J-members within the grooves to add additional strength. With the use of an inverted J-section member, firstly the longer arm of the J-section is visible from the front of the bracket board which tends to detract from the otherwise pleasant wood finish of the bracket board. Secondly, the J-section member is located within the groove merely by compression between the base and adjacent facing panel. The J-section member is not securely located until installation of the bracket board to the wall by means of screws passing through holes in the longer arm of the J-section member and through the base into the wall. Thirdly, in the prior art proposal the holes in the longer arm of the J-section member must be countersunk otherwise the head of the screw used in the installation of the bracket board would foul the display bracket when inserted within the groove. With the exception of the screw heads used in the installation of the bracket board, the bracket board of the present invention provides a pleasant all wood appearance.
Therefore it is the primary object of this invention to provide a bracket board that overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies and disadvantages of the prior art devices by having the Z-section member hidden when viewed from the front of the bracket board thus providing an improvement which significantly contributes to the aesthetic appeal of the bracket board.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved means of manufacturing a bracket board whereby the Z-section members are securely located between a base and a plurality of facing panels by fastening devices inserted from the rear of the bracket board prior to installation of the bracket board to a wall.
Another object of this invention is the provision of open access to the base through the grooves. The base may have holes drilled therein for the insertion of screws to fasten the bracket board to a wall thus avoiding the need of countersunk drill holes in the sectional member.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Particularly with regard to the use of the invention disclosed herein, this should not be construed as limited to bracket boards for supporting display brackets but should include bracket boards for supporting shelf arrangements, pictures, clothing hooks, plant displays and the like.